One of Judah's largest cities, Lachish served as a fortress guarding the
Shephelah region form the 10 - 6th centuries BCE. Standing on the tel today, one can still appreciate the strategic
position which made it so important in ancient times. There is a clear view to the coastal
plain in the west, the fortress town of Mareshah to the north and the hills of Hebron to
the east.

Scripture Summary

The king of Lachish was one of the five kings of the Canaanites
who fought against Joshua at the city of Gibeon and who were killed at the cave of
Makkedah (Joshua 10:23).

The Assyrian king Sennacherib attacked Lachish and sent the three top
officials of his court to negotiate with King Hezekiah for the surrender of Jerusalem (2
Kings 18:13-17).

Lachish was the last Judean city to fall to the armies of
Nebuchadnezzar before they lay siege to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 34:7).

The city was first thought to have been located at a tel with the modern Arabic name of Lakis, and then at
Tell el-Hesi. Only later was it identified with the imposing mound of Tell ed-Duweir,
thirty miles southeast of Jerusalem and fifteen miles west of Hebron. Scholars believe
they finally have discovered its true location since:

Tell ed-Dueweir is the largest tel in the region with significant
remains from the Bronze and Iron Ages

The ruins of Tell ed-Duweir from the Iron Age very closely resemble the bas-relief
of Lachish from the royal palace at Nineveh

Information about Lachish contained in secular literary sources match
the history of occupation of Tell ed-Duweir

The first settled occupation of Lachish dates to the first period of
the Middle Bronze Age (Middle Bronze I). In Middle Bronze II Lachish was an important
Canaanite fortress, protected by a glacis and a
moat. The Egyptians at the time of Thutmose
II knew the Lachish of this period. It would appear that it was this city which was
destroyed by Joshua. In the Late Bronze Age, the
city revived and reached the peak of its development. It's name appears as Lakisu
in the Amarna letters ca.1400-1360 BCE.

Excavations at Lachish. A BIBARCH
Photo.

The first Israelite occupation of the site dates from the late 10th
century BCE with the building of a palace, 100 feet on each side, on the ruins of a palace
dating to the Late Bronze Age. Archaeologists attribute this construction to Rehoboam at
the time he fortified Lachish as part of his western defense line against the Philistines
(II Chronicles 11:5-9). It appears that during
the reign of Jehoshaphat builders extended the palace southward another 140 feet.

The city known as Lachish III, surrounded by a double wall, had strong
fortifications. The destruction of the city by fire was so thorough that the debris formed
a layer of ashes about 3 feet thick. For about 50 years, controversy raged over the
question, "Who was the destroyer of Lachish III? Excavations on the site, involving a
thorough and careful stratigraphic examination, finally resolved the question to the
satisfaction of most scholars. The Assyrian King Sennacherib, who invaded Judah ca. 701
BCE, was the destroyer of Lachish III. Not only do Assyrian documents refer to
Sennacherib's conquest of the city, but a bas-relief, picturing the siege of the city,
occupied a prominent location in Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh.

A new city (Lachish II) rose on the ruins of the city destroyed by
Sennacherib. In the gate house of the rebuilt city, the famous Lachish Letters were found.
These letters consist of the correspondence between the commander of the city of Lachish
and an unidentified Judean outpost at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Judah in
587 BCE. As the Babylonian army advanced through the Shephelah region towards Lachish, the
unknown commander of the outpost wrote to his superior at Lachish that "...we are
watching for the signals of Lachish, according to all the indications which my lord gave,
for we cannot see [the signal fire of] Azekah". This simple account by a minor
officer to his superior is remarkable, since it confirms the biblical account of
Nebuchadnezzar's invasion. Jeremiah records that Azekah and Lachish were the last cities
to fall to the Babylonians before they lay siege to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 34:7).

After the Captivity, although the region of Lachish was part of the
Persian province of Idumaea, returning Jews resettled the city (Nehemiah 11:30). On
the ruins of the former Israelite palaces builders constructed a Persian palace. After
continuous occupation throughout the Persian and Hellenistic periods, the city ceased to
exist in the second century BCE.